(Sorry for the too-aggressive pour. Sometimes a problem with cans I find.)

I’m amazed at this genre until known more or less unknown to me of stouts made primarily with brown malt. It’s a very classically English stout thing to do, but now I’ve had a couple in the States which have a very nutty brown malt quality. It’s nice, and something I’ll probably do in a homebrew sooner or later.

On to the review.

Pours dark brown/black with a creamy brown head that dissipates pretty quickly. Nuttiness on the nose is apparent before I even really stick my schnoz in. Beneath that some coffee, caramel, earthy pungent hoppiness. Definitely some dark roasted chocolate in there as well.

Flavor? Again with the dark chocolate. A hint of spicy pine from the hops perhaps? Finishes with a dry and astringent finish that fades into an aftertaste of chocolate malt. The can claims this is 7% ABV and that feels about right — I don’t taste any booze but it’d probably be well hidden by the malt.

All in all a very nice and roasty stout. I’d definitely throw this in the rotation if I could get it regularly.

So my buddy Franklin had a bottle of Three Floyds Blackheart to share, as well as a couple of other bottles, so he came over and we split some stuff. We started with the Blackheart (which I didn’t bother to review) but I did do tasting notes on paper for the two bottles of Lidney’s that we split. I’m basically transcribing verbatim below, with exact transcription in italics.

4 Hands Pyrus Saison

Pours yellow-orange with a thin white head that dissipates quickly. Aroma is super dry, with pear, notes of funk, perhaps some brettanomyces? Taste follows the nose very well.

At this point I just transcribed one word: salty so I suppose I was getting hints of saltiness on the back of the palate. Then: Extremely dry. Crisp. Green apples. Green apples can be a sign of acetaldehyde but here I think it’s more likely just a yeast ester. (Lots of things can add green apple flavor to a beer.)

Drinkable, good, not too complex.

Rating: B+

Onward and upward.

Jester King El Cidra

This is a dry-hopped and cedar-aged ale from Jester King. It sounded gimmicky to me, but Lidney typically doesn’t steer me wrong, and I quite liked Black Metal, the only other beer from the brewery. I ended up amazed at the quality.

This one had a really interesting spicy note that was really hard to place for certain. This was the first beer in awhile that I wish I had done a video for, because the process of me trying to find the particular flavors was probably really entertaining.

Sorry it’s been a fews days since I’ve posted. I’ve had a couple of beers but away from the computer so I took notes to post later.

This one isn’t from Lidney, but from another friend Russ who came into town for the Medieval Congress a couple of weeks back. I opened it up to drink while I was washing dishes and making dinner. As such, I don’t have detailed notes.

Overall thoughts? Crazy drinkable, highly grapefruit-rindy, and with a ton of citrus character. At 7.5% I wouldn’t expect any booze and there is none. Drinks easy and finishes clean. A superior IPA.

I gave a few sips to a non-beer-drinking friend and he enjoyed it despite “not liking beer.” Max, I’ll get you into IPAs yet.

No rating since I wasn’t really paying close attention to this one. Somewhere in the B range most likely.

Another day, another beer from Lidney. This one doesn’t have an ABV listed, but BeerAdvocate calls it 8.25%. (I used to post technical info on these reviews from the brewery website, but if no one’s really reading who cares?)

(Yeah, I used a mug, because that’s how I roll today.)

Pours dark brown (not quite black) with thick creamy head. Reasonable carbonation. Some lacing on the inside of the glass.

Smells very English, hints of licorice and toffee. Tons of classic brown malt. No discernable hop.

Flavor is right on. Straight up English-style Imperial Stout. I wonder if they’re using a historical recipe for this one? Ron Pattinson could tell me how accurate this is to a high-gravity stout circa 1850, I’m sure. Lots of rich coffee and chocolate character. Hints of raisins. Perhaps a touch floral?

Reviewing this as a classic American Stout or Imperial Stout would make this look bad. The can emphasizes the brown malt used, which leads me to think they’re trying specifically for a sort of historical recreation. Either way it’s very drinkable and makes me happy on a Wednesday evening. Quite good.

Another beer sent to me by Lidney (I think — I’ve gotten a lot of new beers lately from a couple of people). This one’s a canned DIPA from Texas.

Pours dingy orange, about half opaque. Lots of bready malt character on the nose, not a lot of prominent hops. Some bitterness for sure. Slightly metallic.

Flavor: Wow, very very smooth. More like a 9.2% pale ale than IPA. Nice biscuity malt, a hint of hop bite but very little hop character. Perhaps an old can? No date code that I can see. With the excess of caramel malt this is like a super-smooth barleywine or super-ESB than a DIPA.

The bitterness definitely starts to creep up on me as I get through the can. Metallic character starts to dominate the aftertaste. (Not from the can, of course, but from the extended aftereffects of the hops.) It’s not exactly a DIPA, but it’s not exactly bad, either.

I’m not sure how to rate this one. As a DIPA it’s substandard. It reminds me of either an old can that hasn’t been in great condition, or a early-draft homebrew recipe. I’d love to try it again and see if this can is just off, or if this is what it’s supposed to be.

Even though I don’t love this one, thanks a lot for the can, Lidney. I always like to try interesting new stuff.